Pharrell Brown’s stunning strike in the final minute sealed a 2-1 win for Hull City against Istanbulspor to cap a comeback victory in their first game of their Turkish training camp.
Trailing to a goal with the final play of the first half, Kyle Joseph turned in from close range to level it up before youngster Brown’s terrific run and strike from the edge of the box sealed victory.
Sergej Jakirovic’s biggest concern will be the extent of the injury picked up by skipper Lewie Coyle shortly after coming on, with him limping off with what looked like a hamstring issue.
A Mustapha Sol header right on the stroke of half-time gave the hosts the lead, after Phillips was beaten with a powerful goalbound effort, though City were unhappy with what they thought was a foul in the build-up.
Before that, the Tigers carved out some promising openings with Kasey Palmer at the heart of it all. Twice the Jamaican international found himself in good positions, but arguably picked the wrong options when he could have unleashed a shot of his own.
Ryan Giles rolled back the years with a teasing run from back to front and looked to try and finish it off, only to see his shot blocked. It was a wonderful run, and showed what the left-back bis capable of when running from deep.
Prior to leaving the pitch on the half-hour, Tyrell Sellars-Fleming saw two shots well blocked by the goalkeeper with one coming after a clever run from Palmer teed him up, although the playmaker probably should have shot from the edge of the box with the goal at his mercy.
A fresh 10 players came out for the second half and the lone survivor, Burstow, thought he had notched the equaliser when he latched onto a ball from Crooks to beat the goalkeeper and find the back of the net, only to also turn and see a raised offside flag.
Early in the second half, skipper Lewie Coyle was hurt and after a short spell of treatment, couldn’t carry on and limped off handing the captain’s armband to Sean McLoughlin. Back on came Cody Drameh for almost the full second period.
City were beginning to assume greater control, and their equaliser when it came was deserved, with Kyle Joseph turning in from close range to level it up. Joseph should have made it 2-1 moments later when he tried to round the goalkeeper, only to see the stopper get afaint touch to thwart him.
Bizarrely, and in keeping with an annoying refereeing performance, Nathan Tinsdale was booked for a shove, but given what he had allowed to go earlier, especially on Palmer, kit seemed an odd way to act. Clearly the local official had been issued with a new whistle during the summer break. He did level it up shortly after when he booked Sham for a strong challenge on Tinsdale.
The game looked like fizzling out to a draw when Brown took the ball down well, cut inside and unleashed a fizzing drive beyond the goalkeeper to cap a comeback victory.
City are next in action on Saturday when they face Shota Arveladze’s Kasimpasa to round off their training camp in Istanbul.
Istanbulspor first half XI: Dogan, Duhan Aksu, Coly, Inainfe, Bahadir, Sarikaya, Loshaj, Vorobjovas, Sahan, Sol, Mamadou.
Istanbulspor second half XI: Serbest, Ozer, Kabadayi, Erdogan, Duhaney, Aydin, Dayakli, Cham, Gultekin, Sambissa, Krstovski.
City’s first half XI: Phillips, Giles, Egan, Jones, Drameh, Shelvey, Slater, Palmer, Vaughan, Sellars-Fleming, Myers
City’s second half XI: Cartwright, McLoughlin, Hughes, Ajayi, Coyle, Crooks, McCarthy, Tinsdale, Brown, Kamara, Burstow.
You can also join our City WhatsApp community and get the latest news from the MKM Stadium straight to your mobile device. Click here to sign up. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .